As any teacher who, like me, spent 40 years on break and lunch yard duties would tell you, the researchers in Bristol have discovered something we already knew (Urban gulls target school break times for food, says report, 10 November). Daily, gulls would arrive on the neighbouring houses’ rooftops just before the bell rang for break or lunchtime, anticipating pupils’ food scraps once they had gone back into school. The gulls did not bother to turn up at weekends or during school holidays.
The clocks going back in autumn and forward in spring used to cause them a problem, as the next school day they arrived an hour early or late respectively. But by the following day they had adjusted their internal clocks and arrived bang on the bell, confirming their super-smartness.
Andrew Keeley
Warrington, Cheshire
